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Last week, the Senate unanimously approved S.2162, the Veterans Mental Health Improvements Act, which will help veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and other mental and physical injuries. The bill included provisions drawn from the Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act.

Provisions include:

Cuts the deductible disabled veterans have to pay before qualifying for mileage reimbursement from the VA from $15.44 per round trip to $6 per round trip when they travel for health care.

Makes permanent the increase in the VA’s mileage reimbursement rate for disable veterans who travel for health care from 11 cents to 28 cents per mile

Establishes a pilot program on peer outreach and support for veterans, use of community mental health centers and Indian health care facilities as mental health service centers for veterans and readjustment counseling for veterans

Provides families of veterans with mental health disabilities the opportunity to receive marital or family counseling

Creates a new program that aids low-income veterans facing homelessness

Requires the VA to reimburse hospitals that provide emergency treatment to veterans who have service-related disabilities

I'm very glad the Senate is at least making an effort to improve the support offered to vets, but I'll continue to harangue my Senators and Representative like a fishwife to do more. The provisions of this bill seem like too little, when our vets need so much.

Janiece, fishwife. That made me laugh. But, yeah, along with the new VA bill this is a step in the right direction.

Me thinks somebody in Congress has realized that veterans vote - and there's a whole hell of a lot of us lately.

And yes, Michelle makes a very good point. What the solution is, I don't know, unless it's a clean sweep on the Pentagon idiots who think that you can spend a tour shooting people and getting shot at and just "walk it off."

About Me

I am a Hot Chick living in Castle Rock, CO with my fabulous family. We have a rescue dog named "Jackson," and she's a Basenji/Shepherd mix. She's something of a head case, but we love her. I'm a U.S. Navy vet, and I currently work as an Enterprise Solutions Architect, specializing in VoIP and multimedia contact center design. I'm a Trustee for my local library, because LIBRARIES. I care about science, the U.S. Constitution and the military. I'm a tax and spend liberal in a largely red county, but I try not to be stabby about it. I like to color, I aspire to run faster than I do, and I donate knitted cold weather gear to various charities. Stupidity, cupidity and wanton assholery piss me off, and I'm more than a little soft when it comes to dogs and those who serve others. I blog about whatever I feel like. I use foul language, so if that sort of thing offends you, feel free to fuck off now - if I'm unwilling to clean up my language for my fabulous Great Auntie Margie, I'm unlikely to do so for you. Newcomers are welcome here, especially those who disagree with me, but trolling and spamming will be met with the Shovel of Doom™.